re: Meyer Hatchery. None of this is new info, but thought I'd put here what a Meyer live chat rep told me:
They have their own line of CLs, which they will be hatching from in April and May. No pre-orders at this time. The person overseeing the CLs cannot release where they're from, but the chat rep said it will be from the top breeder of CLs. She said they are focusing on production quality vs. show quality (which is in line with what a large hatchery does). She said female chicks are tentatively priced at $49 but that may change. While I was not completely happy with her answers, she was trying to be helpful to the best of her ability and was very pleasant.
edited to add: Pictures will be in the next catalog, and will be of birds from their own flock.

re: Meyer Hatchery. None of this is new info, but thought I'd put here what a Meyer live chat rep told me:
They have their own line of CLs, which they will be hatching from in April and May. No pre-orders at this time. The person overseeing the CLs cannot release where they're from, but the chat rep said it will be from the top breeder of CLs. She said they are focusing on production quality vs. show quality (which is in line with what a large hatchery does). She said female chicks are tentatively priced at $49 but that may change. While I was not completely happy with her answers, she was trying to be helpful to the best of her ability and was very pleasant.
edited to add: Pictures will be in the next catalog, and will be of birds from their own flock.

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I am ok with this event. Meyer also sells Lavendar Orpingtons, Barnevelders, Marans (various colors), etc. It actually means very little to people that sell mostly locally. If I were GFF, I would be a little worried about the loss of mail orders. But almost all of my customers come to me because they DO NOT want to ship baby chicks or want to purchase just a couple at a time. Plus they love seeing and discussing the 11+ rare breeds that I own. The "+" is because I have Sulmtalers in the incubater. I don't count them as a breed in the flock until they are yelling at me for food.

I think the bigger concern is that the CCL sold by Meyer may cause a whole Easter Egger/Americuana like issue.

I am ok with this event. Meyer also sells Lavendar Orpingtons, Barnevelders, Marans (various colors), etc. It actually means very little to people that sell mostly locally. If I were GFF, I would be a little worried about the loss of mail orders. But almost all of my customers come to me because they DO NOT want to ship baby chicks or want to purchase just a couple at a time. Plus they love seeing and discussing the 11+ rare breeds that I own. The "+" is because I have Sulmtalers in the incubater. I don't count them as a breed in the flock until they are yelling at me for food.

I think the bigger concern is that the CCL sold by Meyer may cause a whole Easter Egger/Americuana like issue.

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X2. We don't really want to start THAT headache! Having removed olive from the accepted egg color will HELP with that, but we will probably still run into it.

KP so sorry, I hope your boy pulls through! Give him scrambled eggs to make sure he eats well once he's out of shock, I would also do vitamins like Polyvisol and an antibiotic, and ointment on the wound. If you have any colloidal silver I would give him a few drops of that 2 or 3 times a day, too. It's a natural immune system booster.

I had an idea. (This doesn't happen often.) In the U.S., there is an issue with hatcheries selling crossbred red chickens as Rhode Island Reds. Perfectly good layers, maybe even better than heritage RIRs. More and more, however, the term "Production Red" has been used for them. Descriptive and emphasizes their main quality, while removing any reference to true Rhode Island Reds. Perhaps then we should consider designating non-cream and other "not right" Cream Legbars as "Production Creams." Descriptive, positive. "What you've got there, Bob, is a Production Cream, not a Cream Legbar." Just as honest as "crossbreed" or "not a Cream Legbar," but more easily accepted. Of course this may already have been proposed.

When you said "I think the bigger concern is that the CCL sold by Meyer may cause a whole Easter Egger/Americuana like issue.: I do not think I know it will and then they will cross the two and call them what ever they want. A hatchery is only concerned that it kind of looks like the breed, it lays, and they make money from them. Keeping good genetics and keeping top quality breeding stock is not something they worry about.

When you said "I think the bigger concern is that the CCL sold by Meyer may cause a whole Easter Egger/Americuana like issue.: I do not think I know it will and then they will cross the two and call them what ever they want. A hatchery is only concerned that it kind of looks like the breed, it lays, and they make money from them. Keeping good genetics and keeping top quality breeding stock is not something they worry about.

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What I meant is that they could possibly cross the Legbar with a production bird like the Hyline birds in an attempt to boost its egg laying capability and then turn around and sell the Legbar hybrids as Cream Legbars. How many people buy Easter Eggers from a hatchery that called them Ameracuanas? Not that there is anything wrong with EEs but I do think people get misinformed by some of the hatcheries. I also don't know that Meyer would do this but I do know that the Leghorns I bought from them in the past were nothing like the ones my Grandparents raised. Something was lost in the translation from Leghorn to "hatchery" leghorn.